Issue #12 – 29th March 2013
This will be the last issue for three weeks due to the Easter holidays. We wish all our readers a safe and happy break!
News and Latest Developments
Oracle releases the World’s Fastest Processor
Larry Elison announced a complete refresh of Oracle’s midrange and high-end SPARC server lines with new SPARC T5 and M5 servers running Oracle Solaris. The SPARC T5 midrange servers are based on the T5, the world’s fastest microprocessor.
Why Oracle Bought Nimbula 
Oracle’s acquisition of Nimbula was slightly lower-profile than some of their more recent purchases. The Enterprise Software Musings blog has an explanatory piece on why it’s a key piece of Oracle’s cloud puzzle.
Oracle’s Sales Force gets the blame for poor Q3
Oracle missed its own target for third quarter sales, and suggests that its recent addition of 4,000 sales staff has lowered productivity. Analysts will be looking for a bounce-back in Q4.
Why Oracle has Snapped Up Tekelec 
Ray Le Maistre on the Light Reading blog suggests that this acquisition – along with that of Acme Packet Inc – proves Oracle is very serious about competing in the Telecoms vertical.
Functional
9 ways to reduce cost and maximize value on User Productivity Kit (UPK)
For those from the PeopleSoft world, the UPK has been around for quite a while. For those coming from other applications it’s likely to be a new tool to learn – but it’s well worth the investment (scroll down to read the article).
Technical
Oracle’s UX guru Ultan O’Broin gives some practical examples of when the ADF design patterns have helped customers develop better solutions with less effort.
The 7th and final part of Alex Hansal’s series on the Composer and Workflow. We’ve featured the previous parts in prior newsletters. Although this details the CRM Tool, much of this will also be within the Page Composer available in other Apps Modules.
Reading
Oracle Executive Spends Four Weeks with Just a Mini 
Steven Chan, Oracle’s Senior Director of E-Business Suite Technology recently travelled around the world in about 30 days with only an iPad mini. He went from the U.K. to Hyderabad, India, to Hong Kong and Shenzhen in China, all in about four weeks. Here’s how he found it.
Oracle Endeca: Magical Information Discovery
A full and detailed summary of what Endeca is and what it is capable of from Oracle UX guru Ultan O’Broin. As well as much good info, there are four videos showing how it can make a demonstrable difference to your applications.
Watching
Why the Dubai Chamber of Commerce has chosen Fusion Apps 
A 3 minute video on the reasons behind the Dubai Chamber of Commerce’s recent selection of Oracle Fusion Applications both in Financials and Human Resources.
Fusion Tap for HCM Professionals
Fusion Tap for Sales Professionals
Two brief videos showing the latest updates to the Fusion TAP iPad application. It really is maturing into a strong differentiator for Oracle.
and finally…
17 Counterintuitive Things the Most Successful People Do
I’m sure that you see many emails each week with titles like “Top CEOs all have these 4 habits”, especially if you’re on LinkedIn. This list flips the idea around though … here’s 17 things that you wouldn’t think work, but do.
The Oracle Cloud Weekly 